Senate probe on ‘Tagaytay 5’ sought

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna — Sen. Jamby Madrigal has filed a resolution directing the Senate committee on agriculture and human rights to conduct an investigation, in aid of legislation, into the alleged illegal arrest and inhumane treatment of five members of a peasant group collectively called the "Tagaytay 5."

In her resolution, Madrigal claimed that the five members of the Katipunan ng mga Magsasaka sa Kabite and Cavite Farmers’ Consultative Council were unjustly prosecuted supposedly for their participation in the Senate inquiry into the fertilizer fund scam.

The "Tagaytay 5" — Aristides Sarmiento, Axel Alejandro Pinpin, Riel Custodio, Enrico Ybanez, and Michael Masayes — have been detained at this police camp since their arrest along the Tagaytay-Talisay Road last April 28.

Madrigal and Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture and food which spearheaded the probe on the fertilizer fund scam, met with the five peasant leaders here yesterday to check on their conditions amid reports that they were being held incommunicado.

According to Madrigal, the five actively took part in researching and gathering evidence in support of the Senate inquiry on the fertilizer fund scam, which was allegedly orchestrated by the Arroyo administration through former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn "Joc-joc" Bolante.

"These leaders were just soliciting signatures and gathering affidavits and other pertinent documents to prove that farmers in Cavite had not received a single centavo from the fertilizer funds allegedly released to them by the government," she said.

Magsaysay assured the group that he, together with Madrigal and Sen. Francis Pangilinan, who heads the Senate committee on justice and human rights, will soon submit an independent observation report on their situation.

Magsaysay, in a press conference at this camp’s multi-purpose hall, revealed his plan to file an appeal with Senate President Manuel Villar for an immediate review of the case of the "Tagaytay 5."

"We will also present the case to the Commission on Human Rights and we will extend legal assistance to the group," he said.

The five men were arrested on suspicions of being New People’s Army (NPA) members linked to the supposed terror plot during the Labor Day celebration last May 1.

The group told reporters that they were physically and mentally tortured by their police and military captors and were held incommunicado for a week after their arrest. — With Ed Amoroso